Joining the ranks of Tickle-Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Kids, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ... behold, the Zhu Zhu Pets. These robotic rodents are expected to be the most in-demand toy for the 2009 holiday shopping season.

The five battery-operated hamsters respond to touch with 40 different sounds, and can also run around when set in "explore" mode. It's all the fun of having a pet without the messy clean-up duty.

Parents, you have Cepia LLC, a small company in St. Louis, to thank for these critters. The firm is hoping to ship between 4 million and 5 million pets by the end of the year (banking $300 million to $400 million in sales), but admits they cannot keep up with the demand. Cepia has grand plans, however, for the next part of the Zhu Zhu universe, hoping to roll out hedgehogs, rabbits, and other furry robot friends in the next year or so.

While eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has been working hard to manage its marketplace in a trying economy, its PayPayl business has been growing comfortably and could become the company's biggest earner. For the past two years, eBay has focused on improving the look of its website and helping buyers and sellers to get along in a virtual world built entirely on trust.

In the background, though, the segment of the business that moves money from Point A to Point B has been on fire. Even with payment processing competition from Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), PayPal has been able to do more than hold its own.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Q3 earnings beat by a penny but sales fell short of expectations; shares fell.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) reported a Q3 net loss and plunging revenue but also raised $4 billion in cash.
• BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) topped Q3 earnings expectations but said bad-loan provisions nearly doubled.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) missed estimates and posted a Q3 loss due to delays for a couple of jet products.
• Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) shares rose after it reported better-than-expected Q3 numbers.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted a better-than-expected Q3 profit but sales fell short, and shares fell.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), simply put, had a quarter to die for, the kind that all shareholders have on their wish lists. The Q3 numbers, which were released on Thursday after the bell, speak for themselves. Net sales: up 28%. Operating income: up 62%. Per-share profit: up 67% to 45 cents. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months: up 98%. Yep, Amazon's fundamentals seem to be heading in the right direction.

According to our earnings preview, Wall Street was on record as wanting to see 33 cents per share on the bottom line. Amazon's management did a fine job of supplying further evidence to the market that the company's online business model is not only here to stay, but that it should provide shareholders with a significant amount of value over time.

Markets rose substantially at the end of the day, in part led by the strong earnings reports from 5 of 30 DJIA components this morning alone. This was despite the discussions of the risks of the US's Triple-A rating, another drop in home prices, and despite weekly jobless claims heading higher.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,081.31 +131.95 (1.33%)
S&P 500 1,092.91 +11.51 (1.06%)
Nasdaq 2,165.29 +14.56 (0.68%)

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Online auction giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), a business that counts Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) as related companies, was not popular in Wednesday's after-hours session. The third-quarter report just didn't do it for Wall Street, so Wall Street decided to make some trouble and bring the per-share price of the stock down by 4.5%. Oh sure, the company beat earnings by the most famous amount there is -- the proverbial penny -- but, according to this Bloomberg piece, guidance was not so inspiring.

The top line was actually pretty cool. Net sales saw an increase of 6%. Unfortunately, the bottom line couldn't take advantage of such growth. On an adjusted basis, net income dropped 16% to 38 cents per diluted share. And, as I just said, that was one penny ahead of the analysts.

We had a lot of big names trading up to new 52 week highs again today. The overall markets were pretty flat, with the DOW closing the day down 0.14%, the NASDAQ closing the day's trading up 0.04%, and the S&P ending the day a bit lower to finish today's trading down 0.28%.

Here are a few of the names that moved higher during the day to set new 52 week highs.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Clorox (NYSE: CLX) to Buy from Hold on valuation and believes upside to earnings forecasts is likely. The firm raised its target on shares to $66 from $65.
• Kaufman Bros. upgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Buy from Hold on expectations improved Marketplace fundamentals will serve as a positive catalyst for shares. The firm raised its price target on the stock to $29 from $22.
• Roth Capital believes Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is well positioned for improved results and margins. The firm, which upgraded shares to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $22 from $16, said September back-to-school results bode well for the holiday season and demonstrate that Zumiez can drive conversion during peak shopping periods.
• Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) was upgraded to Sell from Conviction Sell at Goldman.
• Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

After an enormous amount of hype and wasted PR-money, General Motors is ending its car-selling partnership with eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) after dealers reported that the program didn't spur sales and led to a raft of low-ball offers that didn't go anywhere.

By far my favorite quote from the Wall Street Journal coverage (subscription required) of this development: "We thought the program was successful but that this was not the right time," GM sales chief Mark LaNeve said.

Attorneys must love the founders of Skype -- Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who filed yet another lawsuit. This one is against the former CEO of Joost, Mike Volpi, as well as Index Ventures. The claim is that the defendants breached their fiduciary responsibilities to Joost by brokering the $1.9 billion buyout of Skype, which is currently owned by eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). One of the investors in the proposed deal is Index Ventures (and Volpi recently became a partner of the firm).

Keep in mind that on Wednesday, the Skype founders filed a lawsuit -- against eBay, Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board -- for copyright infringement. They believe that their company, Joltid, owns key intellectual property for the Skype platform and that eBay is in violation of the terms.

eBay has held its own, despite the recession. Hence, I'm reiterating my Buy rating for eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) recommended on May 14, 2009, for $16.84. I you bought then, you're up about 40%.

Earlier this year, eBay sold a 65% stake in Skype for about $2.75 billion, enabling the company to focus on core operations at eBay and at PayPal.

Analyst upgrades:

• Wells Fargo transferred coverage of Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) with an Outperform rating, upgraded from the previous analysts' Market Perform rating. The firm believes commercial construction will be of less of a headwind for the company than the Street thinks, and has a $38-$41 valuation range on the stock.
• Kaufman Bros. upgraded SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF) to Buy from Hold after channel checks indicated demand trends picked up in July. The firm raised its target on shares to $15 from $12.
• UBS upgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Buy from Neutral and believes Marketplace transaction growth is "turning the corner." Additionally, the firm believes the secondary market represents a long-term opportunity for the company. The firm raised its target to $28 from $24.
• Novartis (NYSE: NVS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform AMC Monday at Bernstein.

This morning, UBS issued an upgrade to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) - upping the online auction house to Buy from Neutral. The brokerage believes that the company's comparable sales may be starting to "turn a corner." Backing this belief is recent data from a top vendor and "other channel checks."

The vendor, ChannelAdvisor, reported that its comparable sales increased 4.6% in August. The increase followed a 10% decline in the first quarter and a 5% drop in the second quarter. ChannelAdvisor also reported that upcoming changes should help drive transaction growth. These changes include enhancements to eBay's search function and better dispute resolution tools.

"In a move that has long been expected, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is selling Skype," reports Paul Tracy. In his Street Authority Market Advisor he reviews the deal and his bullish outlook on eBay.

"According to terms of the deal, the internet-based phone service will fall under the ownership of a private syndicate for about $1.9 billion.

"Former CEO Meg Whitman orchestrated the acquisition of Skype back in 2005 as a means of communication between buyers and sellers. And the service has attracted hordes of subscribers in a short period of time.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced Tuesday it has reached a deal to sell most of its stake in Skype in a deal that values the online telecommunications service at $2.75 billion. eBay will get $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million note from the buyer.

An investment group led by the private-equity firm Silver Lake, including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, will buy the 65% stake in the company. eBay, which will retain a 35% stake, expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year.